NOTTINGHAM

CONTEMPORARY

GROUP 4B
JANE LING
HASEEF RAFIEI
THOMAS HALLAM
SIU WAI NG
SANGIMITRA SEN

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Here's some more information from the architects:

Nottingham Contemporary
Nottingham has a history as a place for contemporary art, for performance and time based practice
as well as for object based work. This legacy recalls
the artist run spaces of downtown New York in
the late 1960s, and the work of artists like Gordon
Matta Clark and Trisha Brown whose work directly
engaged the spaces of the city around them. The
legacy of the downtown loft lives on in places like
PS 1 in New York, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and the
De Pont Foundation in Tilburg, buildings whose
artistic programmes fully exploit the strong and specific character of their found interiors. Our project
for Nottingham Contemporary sets out to offer a
wide inventory of interiors that have the variety and
specificity of found spaces, within a new building.

LONDON practice Caruso St John Architects have

completed an art centre in Nottingham, UK. Called Nottingham Contemporary, the project is inspired by artists
spaces in down-town New York during the 1960s. Located in the Lace Market area of the city, the design aimed
to recreate the feeling of found spaces in a new building.
The facade is clad in lace-patterned, pre-cast concrete,
inspired by the regular and repeated surfaces of the surrounding warehouses. Two blocks on the roof are covered
in fluted gold anodised aluminium. The centre opened to
the public on Saturday. Photographs are by Hlne Binet.

We wondered if the history and urban qualities of

the site in Nottinghams Lace Market, which has
parallels to the cast iron district of downtown New
York, offered an opportunity to make art spaces that
were unusually engaged with the cultural and topographical qualities of their site. The design engages
with the major levels of a very complex site. An
existing north-south public route through the site
has been given a renewed purpose by its adjacency to
this new public building. At High Pavement, to the
north of the site, a covered yard provides a generous
outdoor space at the entrance to the building, and
a starting point for this public route. Garners Hill
stairs have been straightened and made more than 5
metres wide, and the route southwards affords views
and access to each of the levels of the interior.
The route culminates in a second public yard at the

southern end of the building, a space where the

caf can spill outdoors and which provides a second
entrance to the building from the south. A last flight
of the stair completes the route to Cliff Road where
vehicular access, loading facilities, workshops and
plant are located. The close relationship between
the interior of the building and the topography of
the land means that the character of Nottingham
Contemporary has fundamentally emerged from the
specific qualities of its site.
The main entrance to the building is from Upper
Yard. A large canopy, like a cinema marquee marks
the point of entry, and even before entering, one
can see art within the depth of the building. Passing
through glazed entrance doors one enters into the
first in a network of five rooms. The ground floor
galleries have a 4.5 metre clear height and even top
lighting that is moderated by a grid of lightweight
coffers that are suspended within the steel roof structure.
The galleries are defined by thin, non load bearing
walls, and are connected by large glazed openings
that afford views across the width and length of the
floor and which lend flexibility to how this suite of
rooms can be used. The northern most gallery is
10 metres high and has a single large roof light and
a 9 metre wide window facing Weekday Cross and
beyond towards the centre of Nottingham.

The lower exhibition space is a large, lozenge shaped

room, 7.5 metres high and formed in concrete. One can
feel that this room is built deep into the sandstone cliff.
The 1.5 metre depth of the concrete beams that span the
space accommodate a fully flexible theatrical rig. Retractable bleacher seating enables the space to be used
for cinema and performance as well as for visual art. To
the south is the caf and bar that can be independently
entered from Lower Yard. In the middle of the building
a mezzanine level accommodates education and office
spaces.

20042009
Location: Nottingham, UK
Client: Nottingham City Council
Project Status: Built

We were interested in the presence of the cliff and the way

that it elevates the southern edge of the Lace Market so that
several ranges of buildings are presented, almost in elevation,
to the south of the city. While the line of the cliff is reinforced by the low slung body of the building, the profile of
Nottingham Contemporary is distinctive and becomes a part
of the spectacular view from the south, where the buildings
of the Lace Market form a crown against the sky. The roof
volumes build up in size towards High Pavement and have
a clear relationship to the volume and scale of the existing
Georgian townhouses that line the southern edge of the Lace
Market.
The exterior image for Nottingham Contemporary is inspired
by the 19th century buildings of Nottingham and in particular by the impressive facades of the Lace Market, where hard
brick forms a robust shell to the repetitive structural frames
of the warehouse buildings. The toughness of these facades
was originally about durability and low maintenance but the
rigour of their repetitive pattern and precise material assembly also lend a dignity to the streets of the quarter.
The facades of Nottingham Contemporary are developed as a
continuous patterned surface of pale green pre-cast concrete
elements. Terracotta facades by Louis Sullivan, in particular
the Guarantee Building (1896) in Buffalo, have served as
a model for our faades. Sullivans finely moulded surfaces
with their rich and considered use of pattern speaks of their
material and fabrication as well as being incredibly beautiful.

Something of these qualities can be achieved with contemporary techniques of casting concrete, without the intensive use
of skilled labour that was required in the production of 19th
century terracotta.
The cast pattern is taken from a specific example of Nottingham lace, which itself was a machine made copy of a French
hand made original. The lace was scanned, and then the scale,
tiling and contrast of the two dimensional image was worked.
This modified image was then converted into a three dimensional description which was used to drive a milling machine
that produced a full sized positive in MDF which was then
used to make hard latex moulds. Four, 14 metre long latex
moulds were used to cast all of the pre-cast elements on the
building.
The two rooftop monitors, figures that give Nottingham
Contemporary its silhouette within citys skyline are clad
in tall sheets of gold anodised aluminium which have been
given a gently billowing profile that serves to stiffen the very
thin material.
A major exhibition of over 60 works by David Hockney
from museum collections across the world will open the new
building. The exhibition will re-examine Hockneys work
1960-1968 in the context of art today. It is the first time the
early work - finishing with the iconic Californian painting A
Bigger Splash - has been brought together since the Whitechapel retrospective of 1970, nearly 40 years ago.
Also on show for the opening of Nottingham Contemporary
will be a retrospective exhibition by American artist Frances
Stark, a resident of Hockneys Los Angeles. This is her first
solo exhibition in a British public gallery. The show includes
some work specially made for the Nottingham Contemporary exhibition.

A R C H I T E C T S
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Nottingham Contemporary
art gallery by Caruso St
John Architects
Caruso St Johns Nottingham Contemporary art gallery pays an elegant homage to its lacemaking heritage, says Kieran Long. Photography by Hlne Binet
NOTTINGHAM Contemporary is already an unmistakeable landmark in the city. Visible as you arrive
at the station and from the tram station platform, it
is a gateway, climbing the steep hill that leads up to
the citys commercial centre. It also borders the Lace
Market quarter, a collection of rather grand and sombre
warehouses and offices that catered to Nottinghams
place at the heart of the lace-finishing industry in the
19th century.
This gallery was built to accommodate a very different
legacy of the city - contemporary art. Nottingham has
a vibrant art school and a history of performance art.
Caruso St John Architects won a competition in 2004
(beating Hadid and Foster, among others) to create a
building for an institution to nourish the art scene and
persuade artists to remain in the city.
Their proposal, for a tricky sloping site, looked to create
a building that derived from both the physical character

of the site, and from the architectural character of the

warehouse buildings in the Lace Market. From the station you approach the building from low level, and the
extreme topography of the site is immediately apparent.
There is a drop of 13m from the gallerys entrance on
High Pavement to the bottom of the site at Cliff Road.
To the west is the infrastructural road of Middle Hill
heading into the centre of the town, and to the east, the
site is bordered by a large embankment with a grand
Unitarian church (now a pub) perched on top.
There were some profound engineering challenges. The
site was previously an old Victorian railway cutting that
was used to accommodate large pipes serving the city
centres district heating system. Because of the topography, though, the building is highly visible and plays
an important part in forming the skyline of this part of
the city.
Its green and gold livery is a significant new addition
to the cityscape of Nottingham, especially the two
golden flytower-like volumes on the roof, that shift
and transform the image of the building as you see it

from different vantage points in the city. Adam Caruso

explains how the geometry of the building is derived
directly from the irregular site.
The building follows the outline of the site on three of
its sides, and pulls away from the eastern edge of the
site to create a generous public staircase between High
Pavement and Cliff Road. There is also a terrace for the
caf, and a new pocket public space in front of the main
entrance, complete with stone bench.
Its facades are very finely made. They are the most immediately striking thing about the building, made up of
precast concrete panels in green, cast with a lace pattern
in the surface.
The pattern was taken from a piece of lace found in
a Victorian time capsule and it is, in the flesh, very
beautiful and incredibly precise. It doesnt so much look
like a printed lace pattern, but like lace itself - superrealistic and with a certain fuzziness and softness. The
concrete casting was done by making positives out of
CNC-milled MDF, which were then used to create
two 14m-long hard latex casts.

Some of the precast panels have the lace pattern along

their length, and these were cast first. Other panels use
the lace pattern as an edging, and the latex casts were
cut down gradually to form these part-decorated panels.
Between each concrete vertical is a gold-anodised strip,
and this combination makes the building feel monolithic - a wall rather than a clad structure.
The billowing of the concrete wall and the golden towers on the roof give depth to the facade and reference
another Caruso St John touchstone, JP Berlages Holland House in the City of London. While the patterning on the exterior also calls to mind the pop sensibility
of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, to Caruso, it is
a quite different attitude that generates the exuberant
exterior.
In a way we were doing a warehouse - something that
has repeatable elements. Modern precast is an amazing
material, very fine, and we were explicitly connecting
to a 19th-century way of making a facade. We didnt
want it to be a pop, Warhol-like thing. Caruso St Johns
interest in the pattern of lace cast in the concrete panels
derives from more than one source.
Of course, the relationship with Nottinghams heritage
of lace manufacturing is the obvious one. But Caruso
also talks about wanting to do a Louis Sullivan facade,
(he cites the Guaranty Building in Buffalo, US, completed in 1896 and adorned with lavish, naturalistic
terracotta decoration). There is a sense that, like Sullivan, they are making high-technology buildings using
contemporary techniques, which are then decorated to
relate to the city and to the history of architecture.
Caruso St Johns intention for the spaces and galleries
inside was to mimic the quality of a found space. In a
text written about the project, Caruso references three

found-space galleries as contemporary role models for

Nottingham Contemporary: Palais de Tokyo in Paris
(Lacaton & Vassal 2001), P.S.1 Contemporary Art
Center in New York and the rather more obscure De
Pont Foundation in Tilburg, the Netherlands, which
occupies a former wool-spinning mill. All these institutions have a broad variety of rooms of quite particular
character.
Caruso writes: Our project sets out to offer a wide
inventory of interiors that have the variety and specificity of found spaces, within a new building. The exhibition spaces at Nottingham Contemporary are on the
ground floor, and are all naturally lit, either from a grid
of skylights, or, in the case of the northernmost gallery,
by a combination of skylight and window to the street.
From that point of view, the building does indeed feel
like a Kunsthal, made for art that is less sensitive to
natural light.
There is an irony in the fact that the inaugural exhibition (opening 14 November) will be a show of David
Hockney canvases, entailing the blacking-out of many
of the spaces. The entrance sequence takes you from the
street, to the small court in front of the door (adorned
by a beautifully made stone bench and protected by the
marquee-like lobby), into an ante room, then into the
reception.

This is an informal space, in plan a triangle with a

corner cut off, like the site itself. A reception desk
sits on the left and a concrete stair leads downwards.
From the reception, you can see into exhibition
spaces, making the whole interior quite informal
and open. This feeling is augmented by the thin
walls that separate the galleries - they are explicitly
non-structural, and the architectural intent is to
imply that these walls could one day be removed.
The rectangular gallery is the largest of the exhibition spaces, but perhaps the most characterful is
the northernmost gallery, with its 10m-high ceiling, single large skylight and a 9m window facing
the market cross just outside.
Descending through the building there is the mezzanine floor, which has an education room, the
directors room and a rather beautiful archive room
looking south. Down one more level is the entrance
to the largest space in the building, the concrete
box of the performance auditorium. This room is
7.5m high and irregular in plan, with removable
bleacher seating to give it as much flexibility as
possible.
The full lighting rig is accommodated in the 1.5m
depth of the concrete roof structure. Also on this
floor is the caf (allowing the caf and theatre to
openindependently of the rest of the building if
need be), which gives out on to the south-facing
terrace. Below is the loading bay. This is architecture at a very high level.
While it is by no means perfect, the time taken by

the architect to get details right gives this building

a sense of fineness and quality that is rare in this
country. The precision of the precast exterior helps
this feeling, of course, but there are many other
touches - the paving pattern externally, the timber
floors, the geometry of the skylights as they meet
walls obliquely - all revealing that Caruso St Johns
approach delivers an uncompromising quality in
construction.
Compared with Caruso St Johns New Art Gallery
in Walsall (2000), there is a force and calmness to
Nottingham Contemporary. While Walsall had
to strain hard to be a landmark (configured in a
tower), and created almost domestic-scale spaces
for the collection of that gallery, this one concentrates on a forceful and luxurious exterior expression with a pragmatic attitude to planning that has
created very flexible space inside.
It is probably a more explicitly popular building
than Walsall, more glamorous, relaxed and easier
to understand and, importantly, deeply rooted in
the specific qualities of its site.

Start on site January 2007

Contract duration 30 months
Gross internal floor area 3,400m2
Form of contract JCT 98, Local Authorities
with Quantities
Total cost 12.3 million
Cost per m2 3,620
Client Nottingham City Council
Architect Caruso St John
Project managers Mouchel, Jackson Coles
Structural engineer Arup, Elliott Wood
(external works)
Services consultant Arup
Quantity surveyor Jackson Coles
Planning supervisor Jackson Coles
Main contractor ROK/SOL Construction
Annual CO2 emissions 58kg/m

Working Detail - Facade construction

The exterior image for Nottingham Contemporary was inspired by the impressive 19th-century
facades of the citys Lace Market, where hard bricks
form a tough shell to the structural frames of the
warehouse buildings. The rigour of their repetitive
pattern and precise assembly lends dignity to the
streets of the quarter. The centres facades form a
continuous patterned surface of precast concrete
elements.
The crude techniques and materials of the 1960s
have undergone intensive development and it is
now possible to create surfaces that are somewhere
between stone, terracotta and concrete.
The terracotta facades of Louis Sullivans Guaranty
Building in Buffalo, New York, were a model for
our facades. These finely moulded surfaces, with
their rich and considered use of pattern, speak of
their material and fabrication. Something of these
qualities can be achieved with contemporary precast concrete, which requires less intensive skilled
labour.
The starting point for our research was lace patterns. Computer milling enables formwork to be
produced which is directly controlled by the architect. CAD drawings, graphics or even photos are
translated into machine milling instructions, allowing positives to be cut from resin board. Hard latex
moulds are then made, tough and flexible enough
to be reused many times.
The patterned moulds can be used as modules

within the formwork of individual precast units,

allowing variety and hierarchy of patterning at little
extra cost.

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Nottingham Contemporary was designed by the award

winning architects Caruso St John. They were inspired
by the surrounding Lace Market, specifically the bold,
elegant design of the warehouses that serviced the citys
world famous trade in the 19th century. Former warehouses in other cities have proved flexible and creative
spaces for artists activities, as in 60s New York or 90s
Berlin. Its unusual form is the outcome of building
right to the edge of the irregular site (as a consequence,
there is just one perfectly rectangular room in the building). Our building has been constructed from scratch
on what is said to be the oldest site in the city, home to
a Saxon fort, a medieval Town Hall, and finally a late
Victorian railway cutting. The steps at the side of the
building have recreated a historic right of way.
At 3,000 square metres, Nottingham Contemporary is
one of the largest contemporary art centres in the UK.
It has four galleries - lit by 132 skylights a performance and film Space, a Learning room, The Study,
The Shop and Caf.Bar.Contemporary. The building
appears larger on the inside than outside, since much
of its north end is sunk into the sandstone cliff that
runs the length of the city centre. At the same time the
building is unusually transparent: large windows offer
direct views from the street into the galleries, shop, caf
and offices.

Our Lace
The building is clad with panels embossed with a giant
lace pattern, some up to 11 metres high.
Nottingham Contemporarys lace depicts cherry blossom. The design was in a book of lace samples, placed in
a time capsule by an unknown Victorian in 1847, and
buried underneath the Nottingham Corporation Water
Works where the main Marks & Spencers now stands.
The lace came from the factory of Richard Birkin,
one of the largest and most innovative lace producers.
Birkin himself was three times Lord Mayor of Nottingham.
Our lace was labelled Specimens of Machine Finished
Laces made by Rd Birkin, Basford 1847.Richard Birkin started his company in Nottingham in 1827 and it
grew to be one of the largest and most innovative in the
country it only stopped making lace in 2004. Birkins
initials can still be seen over the entrances to the familys former lace warehouses on Broadway in the Lace
Market. Richard Birkin was three times Lord Mayor of
Nottingham.
Our Site
Nottingham Contemporary is on the oldest site in

Nottingham. It once housed cave dwellings, a Saxon

fort, and a medieval town hall before the Victorians
swept all aside for a railway line. It is in the historic
Lace Market, a showcase for a world famous fabric
when technical innovation gave lace a mass market. A
revolutionary concrete casting technique, carried out in
Nottingham, has embossed a lace design into the buildings panels, some up to 11 metres high.
History
Nottingham Contemporary took three years to build,
but its conception dates back to the early 90s, when
a new building for contemporary art was originally
proposed by Nottingham Trent University. Nottingham
City Council, the buildings developers, took the idea
forward, with the support of Arts Council England
East Midlands. A Board was appointed in 2006 led by
its current Chair Gary Smerdon-White. Funding for
the building came from Arts Council England, Nottingham City Council, emda, the European Regional
Development Fund, Greater Nottingham Partnership
and a significant private donation. Alex Farquharson,
Nottingham Contemporarys first Director, was appointed in December 2006, moving to Nottingham in
April 2007.

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A R C H I T E C T S
J O U R N A L
1 2 N O V 2 0 0 9
Adam Caruso on the Nottingham
Contemporary art gallery

ADAM Caruso provides his insight into Caruso St

Johns Nottingham Contemporary, an art gallery which
pays homage to its lace-making heritage.
Nottingham has a history as a place for contemporary
art, for performance and time based practice as well
as for object based work. This legacy recalls the artist
run spaces of downtown New York in the late 1960s,
and the work of artists like Gordon Matta Clark and
Trisha Brown whose work directly engaged the spaces
of the city around them. We wondered if the history
and urban qualities of the site in Nottinghams Lace
Market, which has parallels to the cast iron district of
downtown New York, offered an opportunity to make
art spaces that were unusually engaged with the cultural
and topographical qualities of their site.
The legacy of the downtown loft lives on in places like
PS 1 in New York, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and the De
Pont Foundation in Tilburg, buildings whose artistic
programmes fully exploit the strong and specific character of their found interiors. Our project for Nottingham Contemporary sets out to offer a wide inventory of
interiors that have the variety and specificity of found
spaces, within a new building.
The design engages with the major levels of a very complex site. An existing north-south public route through
the site has been given a renewed purpose by its adjacency to this new public building. At High Pavement,
to the north of the site, a covered yard provides a generous outdoor space at the entrance to the building, and a
starting point for this public route. Garners Hill stairs
have been straightened and made more than 5 metres
wide, and the route south-wards affords views and
access to each of the levels of the interior. The route culminates in a second public yard at the southern end of
the building, a space where the caf can spill outdoors
and which provides a second entrance to the build-

ing from the south. A last flight of the stair completes

the route to Cliff Road where vehicular access, loading
facilities, workshops and plant are located. The close
relationship between the interior of the building and
the topography of the land means that the character of
Nottingham Contemporary has fundamentally emerged
from the specific qualities of its site.
The main entrance to the building is from Upper Yard.
A large canopy, like a cinema marquee marks the point
of entry, and even before entering, one can see art within the depth of the building. Passing through glazed
entrance doors one enters into the first in a network of
five rooms. The ground floor galleries have a 4.5 metre
clear height and even top lighting that is moderated by
a grid of lightweight coffers that are suspended within
the steel roof structure. The galleries are defined by
thin, non load bearing walls, and are connected by large
glazed openings that afford views across the width and
length of the floor and which lend flexibility to how
this suite of rooms can be used. The northern most gallery is 10 metres high and has a single large roof light
and a 9 metre wide window facing Weekday Cross and
beyond towards the centre of Nottingham.

The lower exhibition space is a large, lozenge

shaped room, 7.5 metres high and formed in
concrete. One can feel that this room is built deep
into the sandstone cliff. The 1.5 metre depth of the
concrete beams that span the space accommodate
a fully flexible theatrical rig. Retractable bleacher
seating enables the space to be used for cinema and
performance as well as for visual art. To the south
is the caf and bar that can be independently entered from Lower Yard. In the middle of the building a mezzanine level accommodates education
and office spaces.

We were interested in the presence of the cliff and the

way that it elevates the southern edge of the Lace Market so that several ranges of buildings are presented,
almost in elevation, to the south of the city. While the
line of the cliff is reinforced by the low slung body of
the building, the profile of Nottingham Contemporary
is distinctive and becomes a part of the spectacular view
from the south, where the buildings of the Lace Market
form a crown against the sky. The roof volumes build
up in size towards High Pavement and have a clear
relationship to the volume and scale of the existing
Georgian townhouses that line the southern edge of the
Lace Market.
The exterior image for Nottingham Contemporary is
inspired by the 19th century buildings of Nottingham
and in particular by the impressive facades of the Lace
Market, where hard brick forms a robust shell to the
repetitive structural frames of the warehouse buildings. The toughness of these facades was originally
about durability and low maintenance but the rigour
of their repetitive pattern and precise material assembly also lend a dignity to the streets of the quarter. The
facades of Nottingham Contemporary are developed as
a continuous patterned surface of pale green pre-cast
concrete elements. Terracotta facades by Louis Sullivan,
in particular the Guarantee Building (1896) in Buffalo,
have served as a model for our faades. Sullivans finely
moulded surfaces with their rich and considered use
of pattern speaks of their material and fabrication as
well as being incredibly beautiful. Something of these
qualities can be achieved with contemporary techniques
of casting concrete, without the intensive use of skilled
labour that was required in the production of 19th
century terracotta.
The cast pattern is taken from a specific example of
Nottingham lace, which itself was a machine made copy
of a French hand made original. The lace was scanned,

and then the scale, tiling and contrast of the two

dimensional image was worked. This modified image
was then converted into a three dimensional description which was used to drive a milling machine that
produced a full sized positive in MDF which was then
used to make hard latex moulds. Four, 14 metre long
latex moulds were used to cast all of the pre-cast elements on the building.
The two rooftop monitors, figures that give Nottingham
Contemporary its silhouette within citys skyline are
clad in tall sheets of gold anodised aluminium which
have been given a gently billowing profile that serves to
stiffen the very thin material.

A R C H I T E C T S
J O U R N A L
1 2 N O V 2 0 0 9
Nottingham Contemporary art
gallery: Engineers account

Arups account of its work on Nottingham Contemporary art gallery by Caruso St John architects, photography by Helene Binet
Background
Nottingham Contemporary is a high profile, publically
funded project creating the largest single gallery space
in the East Midlands, and one of the most impressive
contemporary arts spaces in the UK. It is scheduled to
open to the public 13 November 2009.
Arup has been making a contribution to the city of
Nottingham for over four decades, shaping many
projects, particularly landmark developments focused
around regeneration and sustainability. For this project
Arup provided all engineering services including Structure, MEP, Civils, Geotechnics and specialist services
from teams based both in Nottingham and London.

De-Risking the Site:

A long history of occupation extending back to the
Anglo-Saxon period, and a steeply sloping topography
meant that at the projects inception, a major programme of site investigations was required to define an
Enabling Works contract that would de-risk the site in
preparation for the main construction work.
The site had remained undeveloped largely due to the
fact that access was heavily constrained;to enter the
site from its lowest point at the south, long abandoned
railway structures had to be demolished, including a
disused railway tunnel and its associated cutting.
The site falls as much as 13m from North to South and
is enclosed to the East and West by up to 13m high
existing retaining walls which support busy roads, car
parks and buildings.

The building has a total floor area of over 3000m2

comprising a mix of flexible arts spaces and amenities
including: four art galleries, a double-height performance space accommodating up to 200 people, caf bar
and offices.

The Enabling Works operation was so complex that

some contractors refused to tender. To assist the bidders, Arup developed an indicative phasing approach
early into the project; which was refined following
archaeological investigation.

The site in the centre of Nottingham conferred multiple

constraints on the design of the building:

Archaeology

Its triangular shape and footprint led to an arrangement of the space over four storeys,
The steeply sloping site led to three floors being
underground.
The unearthing of a listed ancient cave monument,
unknown caves, ditches, wells and pits; major city
utilities, and abandoned historic railway infrastructure
meant that this was an extremely challenging site to
develop.

Below the surface, Arup were designing for multiple

known and unknown challenges; the Broadmarsh
Caves, an English Heritage Scheduled Ancient Monument and visitor attraction, were known to extend
beneath the western edge of the site. There was significant potential for discovery of additional unidentified
caves and medieval archaeology. Nottingham has a
rich heritage of caves cut into its underlying sandstone
throughout its occupied history, and variously used as
cellars, dwellings, and air-raid shelters.

In addition to underground structures, the site hosts

major utility infrastructure from which large areas of
the city of Nottingham receive power, district heating
and drainage.
Arup staged archaeological investigations, and topographic surveys of the site and the underlying labyrinth
of caves. Previously unrecorded caves were discovered
and registered during the project.
Enabling Works
During the Enabling Works Arup led continuous and
extensive negotiations with third parties and key stakeholders. Discussions took place early on in the project
with English Heritage in order to ensure that the development would not adversely affect the Broadmarsh
Caves. Arup worked with the contractor to ensure
that the caves remained open to the public throughout
the development. The sub-basement excavation for the
development was as close as 2m from these caves.
Below ground works also included:
The diversion of 2 500mm diameter district hot water
heating pipes serving central Nottingham. A new route
for these pipes was integrated with the foundations for
the new building and incorporated beneath the sub-

basement floor slab.

The redesign and diversion of a major Victorian
combined sewer including the protection of a sensitive
Victorian oval brick sewer which placed restrictions on
ground movements that limited construction techniques.
A major high pressure water diversion feeding the
Broadmarsh Shopping Centre.
Diversions of highway drainage.
Diversions of medium voltage and mains electricity
cabling.
Construction of contiguous piled walls to the Eastern
and parts of the Western site boundaries formed a 13m
deep basement extending below the foundations of the
existing retaining walls.
Structure
It was the intention from an early stage to form much
of the structure of Nottingham Contemporary from
exposed reinforced concrete, consistent with a building
where the distinction between above ground and below
ground accommodation is often ambiguous. The architectural aspiration was to evoke a found space or warehouse context appropriate for contemporary art. Lace
patterns are set in to the pre-cast concrete cladding in
reference to Nottinghams history of lace manufacture.
The challenge throughout the design was to resolve the
technical obstacles posed by the site and the non-repetitive geometry of the architecture in a manner consistent with the architects vision for the building.
The finely-tuned co-ordination of structure, services,
and architecture was a key part of the design process.
Despite the heavy servicing required by the gallery,
there were very few hidden spaces in the public areas
from where services could be run. A case in point are
the 1.6 metre deep concrete beams spanning over the

performance space, arranged to generate the desired architectural rhythm, which are required to support heavy
artworks located in the gallery space above, while at the
same time accommodating holes up to 1600 x 600mm
for service penetrations.
To avoid disturbing the Broadmarsh caves, which
are open to the public and are a Scheduled Ancient
Monument, it was necessary to design the South West
corner of the building to span 40m over the caves. In a
further example of the close co-ordination of structure
and architecture, the transfer structure is unobtrusively
integrated into the exposed walls of the building and
caf terrace.
The roof structure above the main entrance level is
framed in steel as a more economical alternative to
long-spanning concrete. The extent and close spacing
of the roof lights required an unusually densely-framed
beam layout, which had to be precisely co-ordinated to
fit between the sculpted roof light coffers. At the same
time, the coffers allowed little of the diaphragm action
or bracing conventionally used to stabilise roof structures. Strips of concrete slab are strategically located
around the roof to deal with these stability forces in a
way that allowed full realisation of the desired daylighting strategy for the galleries.
The support of the cladding was another central design
challenge. The sheer weight of the precast cladding
units (up to 8 tonnes each), combined with their position outboard of the structure, means that particularly
large forces are generated, which need to be carried by
the structure. Arup developed a strategy in conjunction with Caruso St John for the locations and types
of support to be provided on each faade of the building. Recognising this issue early in the design process
enabled the structure and faade designs to then be
developed in parallel.

Environmental Services:
Principle challenges for the environmental services
were:
Taking best advantage of natural light and natural
ventilation for a building that by virtue of its steeply
sloping site is largely buried below ground.
Matching environmental systems to the varying
demands of the mix of uses: from close environmental
control for the protection of valuable art works, to large
ventilation and heat loads of a performing arts spaces,
to providing simpler systems for the offices and amenities.
Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach common
in large gallery buildings, the air-conditioning design
provides adaptable gallery systems which give staff the
flexibility to simultaneously control a range of environmental conditions in different exhibit areas. In this
way, the costly provision of operating a close control art
preservation environment can be restricted to certain
galleries at certain times (depending on the exhibit),
while the rest of the galleries can operate normally and
more cost effectively.
The architectural character of the internal spaces
combines expressed structural and building services
elements, requiring an unusually precise coordination
between space planning, engineering and finishes.
Primary zoning was adopted within the preliminary
space planning of the art spaces. The development can
be effectively be split into two zones.
Upper level (Ground) art spaces, providing a natural
home for visual arts:
Natural light welcome as an illuminant for art and
as an energy efficient form of lighting. Extensive use of
coffered skylights.

Close control of temperature and humidity sometimes needed to meet the requirements of loan agreement paintings, but not always for the whole floor.
Two zones of control were identified, a south zone
where close humidity control is more likely, and a north
zone where it is possible but may be deployed less
often.
Lower Level art spaces, providing a natural home for
performing arts
Effectively black box space below ground and protected from climatic, acoustic and visual intrusion form
the outside.
Ventilated to provide fresh air and some cooling to
performers and spectators, but with no provision for
close control of humidity.
A partially passive climate control using the mass
of the exposed concrete structure to act as a thermal
flywheel and limit temperature drift at times of high
occupancy.
The flexible nature of the systems does not limit
particular works to certain floors: visual art including
paintings can be shown on the lower level, equally the
upper level art spaces can be used for performing arts.
Sustainability
The design team took a holistic approach to the energy
efficiency and sustainability of the project; assessing
the building form, fabric and design, how it relates to
its site, plant efficiencies, renewable technologies, and
costs.
Key sustainable elements include:
Pre-cast concrete facades and exposed concrete interior finishes provide thermal mass heat sinks to reduce

peaks in daytime heating and cooling loads.

The thick perimeter walls provide integral shading to
the set-back glazing in areas around the perimeter.
High performance double glazing has been incorporated in the faade and roof to limit the solar gains in
summer and heat loss in winter, without jeopardising
the access to natural light.
The cliff acts as an additional thermal buffer in the
winter which reduces the heating energy required.
Natural ventilation is used in the offices, education
rooms and public spaces except where a more controlled environment is needed for art conservation or
performance.
Optimal use of natural light at the main entrance
(Ground) level to reduce the requirement for electric
lighting.
There is a section of green roofing which provides
good natural insulation and reduces rainwater runoff.
The systems have been designed to incorporate
energy efficient components for example all the air conditioning systems incorporate heat recovery
Fresh air ventilation rates controlled by CO2 sensors
for major spaces which will take account of the large
wings inoccupancy between public viewing and set-up.
A sophisticated building management system is used
to control the mechanical systems, which will optimise
the heating and cooling energy used. It will also monitor the systems and as a result will be able to inform the
users when energy wasting leaks may have occurred and
help to facilitate a timely repair.
The buildings primary heat source is the Nottingham
district heating system which is predominantly fuelled
by municipal waste and offers a green energy source for
the building.

Lighting:

Conclusion:

The Ground level galleries at the top of the building benefit from generous daylight levels for most of
the year from the coffered skylights within the roof.
The glazing in these skylights incorporates a diffusing
laminate that prevent sun patching within the galleries,
and also filters out ultra-violet radiation. Daylight levels
vary significantly in the gallery spaces depending on the
sky conditions and time of year. A system of manually
deployed blackout covers are provided so that reduced
light levels can be created. These covers can be clipped
into place externally to cover the roof lights when
required.

In retrospect, Nottingham Contemporary is an elegant,

high quality response to what was an immensely challenging brief. The building responds purposefully and
successfully to the topography of the site.

Daylight in these galleries is supplemented by fluorescent luminaires positioned in the gaps between the
plywood coffers. These fixtures are dimmed according
to exterior lighting conditions as sensed by a daylight
sensor in each gallery.
The art spaces are also provided with a flexible system for the highlighting of individual works: in the
Ground level galleries this is achieved through the provision of hidden lengths of mains voltage track recessed
between the plywood coffers, into which wall-washing
or spotlighting fixtures can be added.
A dimmed fluorescent house lighting system is
provided in the basement performance space. This
is designed to be controlled in conjunction with the
dedicated theatrical lighting system or independently
for special art exhibition events, seminars or lectures.
Theatre lighting, audio and machinery power cables are
distributed at high level and within the floor to meet
the technical needs of a wide range of stage productions, without becoming visually intrusive.
Beneath entrance atrium

A R U P . C O M
Nottingham Contemporary
Design of innovative structure to provide support
and carry services.
Flexible environment for a variety of arts uses.
Nottingham Contemporary is a high profile, publically-funded project creating the largest single gallery
space in the UKs East Midlands.
Arup provided a variety of services including civil and
structural engineering, electrical engineering, geotechnics and a range of specialist services.
The building has a total floor area of over 3400m2 a
mix of flexible arts spaces and amenities including four
galleries, a double-height performance space accommodating up to 200 people, caf bar and offices.
Close coordination
The presence of caves, utilities, adjacent structures and
buildings, extensive retaining structures and significant changes of level created a challenging site for this
partly underground building.
The main supply for Nottinghams district heating
system runs through the site and was diverted beneath
the new construction. Arup led continuous and extensive negotiations with EnviroEnergy, third parties and
stakeholders that would be impacted by the re-routing
works. This helped to overcome an obstacle that had
prevented the site being developed in the past.
The coordination of structure, services and architecture
was a key part of the design process. Concrete beams
spanning the performance space were designed to support heavy artworks above while providing substantial
space for service cables.

Structural challenges
Designing a structure to support heavy external cladding was another design challenge. The position and
weight (up to eight tonnes) of the precast cladding
units generated large forces on the structure.

Heat, shade and light

Heavy precast concrete faades and exposed concrete
interiors provide heat sinks to reduce peak daytime
heating and cooling loads. Thick perimeter walls also
provide integral shading to perimeter glazing.
The building is embedded into a cleft through the Nottingham Sandstone that originally formed a railway
cutting, and has a limited exposed exterior. The architecture maximises access to natural daylight to reduce
reliance on artificial lighting.

Arup developed a strategy in conjunction with Caruso St John for the location and type of support on
each faade. Recognising this issue early in the design The contact with the Nottingham sandstone acts as a
process enabled the structure and faade to be designed thermal blanket in winter, reducing the need for heatin parallel.
ing. A connection to Nottinghams district heating system meets the remaining heat demand from renewable
A holistic approach to sustainability was taken
waste to energy. A section of green roofing provides
throughout the project, taking full advantage of the
good natural insulation and reduces rainwater runoff.
unique site conditions.
Distinct zones
Though the spaces are flexible, lighting and environmental design focused on providing a natural home
for visual arts on the upper level and performing arts
below.

High-performance double glazing has been incorporated in the faade and roof to limit solar gain in summer
and heat loss in winter, without jeopardising the access
to natural light.

Building management system

A sophisticated building management system is used
The upper level art spaces take advantage of natural
to control mechanical systems, optimising heating and
lighting and ventilation, and provide flexible space suit- cooling energy use. The system also monitors energy
able for a variety of artworks. The lower level provides use and informs users when leaks may have occurred performing arts space that is isolated from the outside helping to facilitate timely repair.
environment.
Sustainability
The design team took a holistic approach to energy efficiency and sustainability from the outset.
With challenging site constraints, the approach involved assessing the building form, fabric and design,
plant efficiencies, renewable technologies and cost.

Centre for Contemporary Arts Nottingham

CCAN
Stunning lace designs that helped establish a world
famous industry in the heart of Nottingham have
been set in concrete as part of an iconic, multi-million
pound arts centre.
The project was a major challenge for Trent Concrete, which used its wealth of precast experience to
reproduce a unique lace pattern in the reconstructed
stone cladding being manufactured for the Centre for
Contemporary Arts Nottingham (CCAN).
The design is based on a sample of Victorian lace
found in a time capsule, unearthed when a new supermarket was being built in the city.
This pattern was initially given to design specialists at
Derby University, who used lasers to replicate the exact
pattern on a piece of timber. It was then sent to Germany, where leading rubber mould supplier Reckli was
able to transfer the design onto a durable rubber mat.

E - A R C H I T E C T. C O . U K
Centre for Contemporary Arts Nottingham Caruso St John Architects

The finished template is now being placed into concrete-ready moulds, so the intricate pattern can be
exactly reproduced on the cladding Trent Concrete
is making for the 13m arts centre. David Walker,
Managing Director of Trent Concrete, said: We are
thrilled to be able to use our precast concrete expertise
to create such a unique and beautiful finish for what
promises to be a landmark building for Nottingham.
Each contract we undertake is bespoke in its detail.
While we have used rubber mat templates in our
moulds before, such as at the Trafford Centre in Manchester, but this is easily the most intricate job we have
ever undertaken.

In total, 1,100 square metres of green scalloped wall

panels will be made by Trent for the arts centre
ranging from 4-11m in height. The heaviest of the 93
individual units weighs in at 11.5 tonnes. Trent have
had to develop innovative methods of handling, storing, transporting and erecting the massive panels that
would ensure that the stunning finish is protected.
Purpose-built metal frames are being used to carefully
turn the finished panels onto their edges, for easier and
safer transport. Once delivered on site, a special shoe
(made from a steel frame) is used to carefully turn
them back 90 degrees before being fixed to the building.
Under its nearly 500,000 contract with Caruso St
John Architects, Trent is also providing a 200 square
metre black polished concrete plinth of varying heights
to surround the bottom of the bottom of the building.
This will guarantee an impressive finish to the project.
CCAN has received substantial support from Arts
Council England and the development is being led by
Nottingham City Council, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham who will set up a charity to operate the site.
The centre, featuring 1,300 square metres of gallery
space, education rooms and a caf and bar, is a major
opportunity for the city to develop and enhance its
cultural and creative industries. It is due to open in the
autumn of 2008.

M A N U FAC T U R E RS
C O N T R A C T E R S
S U P P L I E R S
Allgood Ironmongery
Kvadrat Fabric
Arch Timber Fire Impregnation
TMECIronmongery
Geze Ironmongery
Solaglas Glazing
Eckelt Glazing
Reckli Lace Mould Manufacturer
Altro PVC Lining
MDM Props Signage (Neon Sign)
Kaydee Blinds Blinds
Powershield Doors Doors (Steel Doorsets)
Torclad Roofing (Green Roof System)
Architectural Products Ltd Rooflights
Trent Concrete External Cladding (Pre-Cast Concrete)
Northfield Construction In-Situ Concrete Frame
Dorma Ironmongery
Silent Gliss Curtain Rails

N O R T H F I E L D
CONSTRUCTION
Centre for Contempoary Arts,
Nottingham
Main Contractor
Sol Construction Limited
High-profile project inspired by the nearby Lace
Market, creating the largest single gallery in the East
Midlands. This unique structure has already proven
a new landmark for Nottingham and demonstrates
the versatility of concrete in respect of shapes, sizes,
colours, textures and finished for both pre-cast and
exposed interior in-situ.
A high level of ingenuity and multi-disciplinary
technical input was required to fulfil the demanding
brief within the budget of this publicly-funded project. A 4-storey structure with 3 floors below ground
on steeply sloping topography, the challenges which
had left this site undeveloped until now included extensive utility diversion works, severely restricted access, railway structures, and the need for the structure
to span 40m over the Broadmarsh man-made caves.

B U I L D I N G M ATT E R I A L S G R O U P

| CONTRACTING SERVICES

Birch House, Scott Quays, Birkenhead, Merseyside

CH41 1FB +44 (0)151 606 5900

In the recent past, other gallery projects in the Midlands where Voltex has been used are : the Art Exchange in Nottingham
and the extensions to the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry and Wolverhampton City Art Gallery.

CLIENT: Sol/ROK, Northeld Construction Ltd

PRODUCTS: Voltex, Waterstop RX101, Volseal 250

LOCATION: Nottingham, England

PROJECT: Centre for Contemporary Art

w w w.CE TCO.com

For a free consultation for your next project,

call a CETCO Waterproong expert at +44
151 606 5900

RESULT: Following the success of the Voltex installation,

some time after the concrete works were completed,
CETCO Contracting were employed by Sol Construction to
apply Volseal 600 to the external concrete slab in front of
the gallery cafeteria.

SOLUTION: Northeld Construction had extensive experience in working with the Nottingham sandstone and
utilised their own plant to scabble the rock faces so that
Voltex could be applied directly to them. Once oor slabs
had been poured, single-sided shutters were used to form
the walls. Elsewhere on the site, Voltex was applied directly to the existing blue brick walls, which again acted as
an in-situ back shutter. Where space allowed, construction was switched to traditional shuttered format with
Voltex post-applied to the concrete.

The open site had historically been a Victorian railway cutting with an old, blue brick embankment on the west with
the northern and western walls formed from the natural
sandstone, familiar throughout Nottingham. Large pipes
serving the city centres district heating system ran through
the site and had to be retained.

CHALLENGE: The development was situated on

a tricky sloping site, with a 13 metre drop between the gallerys entrance in High Pavement,
and the lower border on Cliff Road.

in 2004, architects Caruso St John won the opportunity

to design the gallery, one of the largest contemporary arts
centres in the UK. Situated on the oldest site in Nottingham, Garners Hill in the historic Lace Market, the area
once housed cave dwellings, a Saxon fort and a Medieval
town hall before the Victorians swept all aside for a railway line.

BACKGROUND: Following an international competition

HISTORIC SITE USES PRE-HISTORIC BENTONITE

IN NOTTINGHAM

CASE STUDY: BUILDING MATERIALS

L I N I N G T E C H N O L O G I E S | R E M E D I AT I O N T E C H N O L O G I E S | D R I L L I N G S Y S T E M S |

C O N S T R U C T I O N
P
H
O
T
O
S

Ground level plan

Mezzanine level plan

Basement level plan

Sub-basement level plan

Sunpath

Surrounding context

Ciruculation paths

BIBLIOGRPAHY
Journals

* Architectural Review 227.1355 ( Jan 2010): 36-43

* A + U 2(473) (Feb 2010): 62-71
* Detail 1 ( Jan 2010): 14

Web

* http://www.dezeen.com/2009/11/16/nottingham-contemporary-by-caruso-st-john-architects/\
* http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/nottingham-contemporary-art-gallery-by-caruso-st-john-architects/5210778.article
* http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/our-building
* http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.architectsjournal.co.uk/story.aspx?storyCode=5210817
* http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.architectsjournal.co.uk/story.aspx?storyCode=5210818(engineers account)
* http://www.arup.com/Projects/Nottingham_Contemporary.aspx
* http://www.e-architect.co.uk/england/nottingham-arts-centre
* http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=506425
* http://www.louisewestlacedesign.co.uk/gallery/nottingham-contemporary
* http://buildingmaterials.cetco.com/Left-Side-Navigation/PRODUCTS/Waterproofing-Products/Voltex
* http://cetcoeurope.com/Left-Side-Navigation/Building-Materials-Group/Products/Voltex